RweTHEREyet
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 4, 1999
- Messages
- 6,645
Just a few observations from our first time trip to DL. Let me preface this by saying that I know this was not a typical visit as we were there during some of the torrential rains and cold weather. But, we did have some thoughts and I wanted to share things we noticed. We had one day in DL and one day in CA. In no particular order, here we go.
~~I thought I was prepared, had been warned by many, but I have to say that the darn castle is small--it is beautiful--but it is small and appears as if it was just squashed to the ground. The few times the sun did shine, the gold on the spires made it really, really shine and sparkle. But I have to say, Cinderella really got the better end of the deal in the castle department.
~~The DL Cast Members are far friendlier, in my opinion, than those at WDW. I wore my birthday button, and I got a Happy Birthday from almost every CM we encountered. And any time we asked a question, we got a smile and helpful information, over and above what we asked.
~~Tickets appeared to be available only at the Parks. We were not asked at check-in either at the Grand Californian or at the DL Hotel if we needed tickets. Maybe you can get them at Guest Services at the hotel, but that was never mentioned.
~~Villas at the Grand Californian, simply beautiful, like a more stately Wilderness Lodge. We do not care for the WL rooms at all, but we loved Grand Californian. They are larger, beautiful mission-style furniture, loved the fabrics, loved the accessories--nice metal ice bucket and hammered tray on the wet bar area. Robes in the closet.
The lobby area for the Villas is non-existant. You walk from the hotel, outside, thru some doors to the elevators. If there is a lobby area for the villas, we just never found it.
~~They don't know how to make biscuits out there. We ate breakfast at White Water snacks and then the next day we had breakfast at Storyteller's and the biscuits were absolutely tasteless and hard like hockey pucks--just awful. Of course, I understand they are just learning about sweet tea there, so maybe in a few more years they will know what a real biscuit is. Wonder if all of Cali is like that, or jut DL?
~~Because it was raining really hard, a lot of stuff was shut down, including the monorail. No food kiosk's were open, no Dole pineapple whip, no churros, no popcorn, no Mickey bars, nothing.
So, when it came time for some lunch, it was very difficult to find anything at all. There are like two sit-down places to eat and that is all, the Plaza, not like the one at WDW, and the Blue Bayou. Food options are not nearly as plentiful at DL as they are at WDW. We ended up eating at the Plaza, and it did not open until Noon. I am sure the rain had a lot to do with it, but the lack of food options really surprised me.
~~DL and California Adventure are easier to do than WDW. Once you get there, you are there, no major decisions on transportation on how to get somewhere else. You do not waste a lot of your day getting from one Park to another.
~~The monorail is not a major form of transportation. You can board at Downtown Disney, and it drops you off near the Nemo submarines, but when you board, that is your entry into DL, and you have to already have your ticket to board. I did not see anywhere you could buy a ticket in that area. The new monorail cars are very, very cool, and look as futuristic as they should. The monorail makes a couple of steep banked curves, which I did not expect and enjoyed. We saw people riding in the front car and the back car of the monorail. The ride from DTD to DL is far more interesting that from DL back to DTD.
~~So much stuff was closed for rehab, which we expected, but the construction barriers at both DL and CA made for some tight pathways and made it hard for us to find our way around at times.
~~Que lines are much narrower for the original attractions. Small enough to make you literally single file. Not a problem, just a surprise. The most noticeable to me was Peter Pan, which is better at DL, imho.
~~Hand sanitizers set up in many locations at the entrances to the parks and some in the parks. I did not see any of these our last trip to WDW in September, but maybe they are in the process of being installed.
~~You can see Tower of Terror from DL, and you can see the train station from CA. Can't say that I liked being able to do that, but maybe it was just a surprise to me.
~~Rain is definitely an issue out there. It has no where to go, no huge drains, etc., and the Cast Members were out with huge brooms, pushing the water off the streets into the small drains they do have. Rain to them is like snow in our area--it shuts them down.
~~WOD is the only option for Disney merchandise in DTD. At WDW, it is nice to have the Christmas store, the kitchen store, Goofys Candy Company and the Art of Disney, among others to find specific merchandise. It was surprising to see stores such as Sephora in DTD.
~~I was surprised that there was no Ghiradelli at DTD--not that the stores should be the same as at WDW, but since Ghiradelli originates in CA, I was just sort of expecting one.
That's all for now. I need to look back over my pictures to jog my memory of things we noticed.
~~I thought I was prepared, had been warned by many, but I have to say that the darn castle is small--it is beautiful--but it is small and appears as if it was just squashed to the ground. The few times the sun did shine, the gold on the spires made it really, really shine and sparkle. But I have to say, Cinderella really got the better end of the deal in the castle department.
~~The DL Cast Members are far friendlier, in my opinion, than those at WDW. I wore my birthday button, and I got a Happy Birthday from almost every CM we encountered. And any time we asked a question, we got a smile and helpful information, over and above what we asked.
~~Tickets appeared to be available only at the Parks. We were not asked at check-in either at the Grand Californian or at the DL Hotel if we needed tickets. Maybe you can get them at Guest Services at the hotel, but that was never mentioned.
~~Villas at the Grand Californian, simply beautiful, like a more stately Wilderness Lodge. We do not care for the WL rooms at all, but we loved Grand Californian. They are larger, beautiful mission-style furniture, loved the fabrics, loved the accessories--nice metal ice bucket and hammered tray on the wet bar area. Robes in the closet.
The lobby area for the Villas is non-existant. You walk from the hotel, outside, thru some doors to the elevators. If there is a lobby area for the villas, we just never found it.
~~They don't know how to make biscuits out there. We ate breakfast at White Water snacks and then the next day we had breakfast at Storyteller's and the biscuits were absolutely tasteless and hard like hockey pucks--just awful. Of course, I understand they are just learning about sweet tea there, so maybe in a few more years they will know what a real biscuit is. Wonder if all of Cali is like that, or jut DL?
~~Because it was raining really hard, a lot of stuff was shut down, including the monorail. No food kiosk's were open, no Dole pineapple whip, no churros, no popcorn, no Mickey bars, nothing.
So, when it came time for some lunch, it was very difficult to find anything at all. There are like two sit-down places to eat and that is all, the Plaza, not like the one at WDW, and the Blue Bayou. Food options are not nearly as plentiful at DL as they are at WDW. We ended up eating at the Plaza, and it did not open until Noon. I am sure the rain had a lot to do with it, but the lack of food options really surprised me. ~~DL and California Adventure are easier to do than WDW. Once you get there, you are there, no major decisions on transportation on how to get somewhere else. You do not waste a lot of your day getting from one Park to another.
~~The monorail is not a major form of transportation. You can board at Downtown Disney, and it drops you off near the Nemo submarines, but when you board, that is your entry into DL, and you have to already have your ticket to board. I did not see anywhere you could buy a ticket in that area. The new monorail cars are very, very cool, and look as futuristic as they should. The monorail makes a couple of steep banked curves, which I did not expect and enjoyed. We saw people riding in the front car and the back car of the monorail. The ride from DTD to DL is far more interesting that from DL back to DTD.
~~So much stuff was closed for rehab, which we expected, but the construction barriers at both DL and CA made for some tight pathways and made it hard for us to find our way around at times.
~~Que lines are much narrower for the original attractions. Small enough to make you literally single file. Not a problem, just a surprise. The most noticeable to me was Peter Pan, which is better at DL, imho.
~~Hand sanitizers set up in many locations at the entrances to the parks and some in the parks. I did not see any of these our last trip to WDW in September, but maybe they are in the process of being installed.
~~You can see Tower of Terror from DL, and you can see the train station from CA. Can't say that I liked being able to do that, but maybe it was just a surprise to me.
~~Rain is definitely an issue out there. It has no where to go, no huge drains, etc., and the Cast Members were out with huge brooms, pushing the water off the streets into the small drains they do have. Rain to them is like snow in our area--it shuts them down.
~~WOD is the only option for Disney merchandise in DTD. At WDW, it is nice to have the Christmas store, the kitchen store, Goofys Candy Company and the Art of Disney, among others to find specific merchandise. It was surprising to see stores such as Sephora in DTD.
~~I was surprised that there was no Ghiradelli at DTD--not that the stores should be the same as at WDW, but since Ghiradelli originates in CA, I was just sort of expecting one.
That's all for now. I need to look back over my pictures to jog my memory of things we noticed.
Now, there is nowhere near as many options as WDW, but again, it's smaller, more compact, and doesn't need as many options.
Don't you guys have Bojangles out there?
It is also hard to get used to not knowing just where everything is. 
